Virat’s been playing non-stop, he’s drained: Prasad

The senior national scripted workload management for the 2019 world cup with Indian captain Virat Kohli rests for the Asia Cup. Had the Asia cup been a low-key tournament like Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka, towards the end of the 2017-18 season, the choice wouldn’t have evoked discussion. The Sept 15-28 Asia Cup, however, features Pakistan and, whether or not one likes it, India vs Pakistan games still mean almost about everything on each side of border. Being so, unless Virat encompasses a major drawback, he ought to be heading to UAE post England. No one disagrees with principle of managing work-load, however to begin with the Asia Cup is very hard to digest.

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is not within the Sri Lanka tour team. A detailed look can indicate that selectors maintained consistency by choosing all those players, who were a part of the home team in T20s against Sri Lanka in December. In June, Kohli skipped Afghanistan’s inaugural test game to get used to English conditions ahead of the test tour. However all those plans came to halt after his neck got injured during an IPL match, Kohli further cancelled his contract with Surrey and went for rehabilitation.

Kohli was forced off the ground on throughout the second test against England. He was forced to miss some on-field action during day three and was seen spending time off the field, excercising.

Key players have, in the past not been rested in the series that is a major area of consequence. “Virat had been playing continuously except for the second half of May. He’s completely drained and it’s not fair to expect him to stay consistent”, said MSK Prasad, in an interview. Bhuvneshwar was adjudged man of the series in T20Is for taking seven wickets in 3 matches at an average of 9.57 with five for twenty-four being his best performance. He picked up ten wickets in two Tests, two wickets in five ODIs and ended with seven in the T20I series. Bumrah made his test debut in the first match against South Africa, got 14, 8 and 1 wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively on the tour. Pandya too was a part of the squad in all the twelve matches against South Africa and as a result was given a much-needed break before the Indian Premier League.